Job Archives - Page 22 of 23 - The Voice of Job Seekers

The Audacious Follow Up Call After Your Interview

It’s bold, daring, ballsy, aggressive, and necessary to make the follow-up call after your interview count. Don’t be a wuss! Stand out by calling to see where you stand in the hiring process.

Perceived by people as being “pushy” as a result of following-up is not the worst thing that could happen.

People make a living by being pushy, assertive, aggressive, and even overbearing. There are other words that people like this are called, but you have to ask the questions.

Read: Are You An Aggressive Jobseeker?

Did I get the job?

Do you receive my résumé?

Can I get 10 minutes of your time?

When you own the audacity to ask relevant questions regarding your future, you are being responsible, not “pushy.”

There are fine lines between assertive and aggressive, but being passive is bad. Very bad.

Passive people miss chances.

Passive people miss the bus. They miss the train. They miss chances of getting a seat on the train. Ok, if he or she is courteous or chivalrous, but passive? A wimp? A chump?

Passive people are tactful and respectful, and we like them. I am one of them. I’m assertive. I just have this way of persuading people. Some call it charm. Others call it sweet. But I will make the call, and I will ask the question. It doesn’t take a special person to follow up after your interview.

Don’t overcompensate. People will see you as fake. Although I will admit, overcompensation is on the road to being audacious. Which is better than being a suck-a!

A lioness will devour anything that messes with her babies. A woman scorned will imbibe your head the same way with her babies. Your job opportunity must become your baby, and the baby shouldn’t be hungry.

If you’re a chump, slacker, pushover, scared, ‘fraidy cat, scarry cat, or lazy, don’t bother to call back. Don’t just send a thank-you letter, call. Leave a good impression, not a bad taste in someone’s mouth. Don’t email, text, or use telepathy! Call. Take the letter, drop it by the office. Talk to someone that matters.

Employers want to see how badly someone wants an opportunity. It shows enthusiasm. It shows desire. When you place that follow-up call after your interview you can call to say:

“Thank-you for the interview.”

“What are the names of each person who interviewed me?”

“Let me tell you what I learned.”

“The water was tasty, what brand was that?”

Even “Do you have Grey Poupon?” would be better than not calling! Have the audacity to follow-up. You might be leaving money on the table. You could be throwing career fulfillment in the trash if you don’t call.

Audacity alone will not get you a job, but if you were alone in following-up…well, what do you think? C’mon, place that follow-up call after your interview. I promise it won’t hurt.

Image: Steam Punk

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

16 Years Old, He or She is a Job seeker

At 16, he or she is a job seeker.

Teaching preparation to our little adults is essential. Our natural instinct is to protect them from disappointment and just concentrate on school work. For a few teens, that works fine. However, a 16 year old needs to work. They need the basic job lesson: I work, therefore, I am contributing.

Rise and Grind, first school, then work. Now.

Are we really protecting our little job seekers by letting them just go to school and play sports? I don’t. School work fills part of a day, and rarely the whole. Teens, I think, need to work during the school year. At worse, volunteer 10 hours a week, but teens need to do something.

Read: Make Career Defining Choices Like a 17-Year-Old

Our little job seekers choose between video games, or roaming the streets. How about working to earn school clothes money? How about volunteer work? It is not about keeping them busy. Character means much more by our teens volunteering and working.

Several studies should alarm every parent, no matter the race or culture:

During the June–July period of 2009, on average, there
were 2.063 million unemployed teens (not seasonally adjusted).15 This
pool of unemployed teens represented slightly over 26 percent of the
official civilian labor force; thus, the official unemployment rate for
teens in the June–July period was 26.3 percent, the highest summer
unemployment rate for teens in the past sixty-one years.

Sum, A., Khatiwada, I., McLaughlin, J., & Beard, A. (2010). Historically Low Teen Employment: The Case for a New Youth Jobs Program. Challenge, 53(1), 87-108

Estimated Numbers of Unemployed Teens (16–19) and Adults (20+)
and Their Unemployment Rates in June–July 2009 (in millions, two-month
averages, not seasonally adjusted)

Labor force variable                        Teens                  Adults 20+
Civilian labor force                           7,846                 145,336
Unemployed                                     2,063                 13,085
Unemployment rate                         26.3%                9.0%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation: July 2009 (Washington, DC, 2009).

Historically, the rate of unemployment for African-American teens is alarmingly higher than White teens. The alarm has rung annoyingly for more than 24 years. In 1998, Ebony magazine published an article by Charles Whitaker stating what many African-American leaders are bellowing now:

OUR children are in imminent danger. Millions of them are engulfed in a morass of drugs and violence and are falling in staggering numbers to some of the most virulent social ills plaguing America.

Ebony, August 1988, A Generation in Peril, by Charles Whitaker.

In the same article, he states alarming statistics about the youth in the African-American community:

The jobless rate for Black teenagers—particularly males —hovers near 40 percent,
twice that of White teenagers. Many of these youths grow up never
knowing anyone who has held a job.

Also,

A 1987 Census Bureau report cautioned that “a large number of Blacks are falling out of the mainstream of our economic life and may never find a way back in.”

A Generation in Peril, by Charles Whitaker.

History, like a Sting lyric, “…will teach us nothing.”

Parents can do something now. If you are against your teen working during school, that is a personal decision I can understand. The downside is they can work and go to school. My son “Boy Wonder” works and attends school, plays sports, volunteers at a local hospital and maintains a 3.0 of 4.0 grade point average. This did not happen without preparation, conversation, and all of our family’s participation.

If you want little job seekers to work during the summer, start searching now. Have them dress, and meet people to make a positive impression. Teen unemployment in Illinois this summer was 26.1% as reported by Forbes magazine.

If you have done everything you can as a parent to find your 16 year old a job, then let him or her volunteer. The worst thing that could happen other than involvement in crime, is to lack purpose, and waste potential talent or a lesson in work ethic and skill. Wasted opportunities in not teaching work ethic and responsibility is the worst crime that exists. A young person could be arrested without handcuffs for years, and we may all suffer as a result.

Image: teenchokinggame.com

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Where Are The Jobs? For Many, In Their Hands

I like this analogy about the ideal attitude for job seekers and jobs. We must remain in control of our careers to pursue jobs we want and need.

I wrote a blog post a couple of years ago using a story told by Ellie Wiesel who is a holocaust survivor, journalist, and professor. This story has remained with me for years. Although I did not put the thought into the post, the story he told means more now than ever:

The Perils of Indifference (An Excerpt)

The White House, April 12, 1999

The story is that, once upon a time, there was an emperor, and the emperor heard that in his empire there was a man, a wise man with occult powers. He had all the powers in the world. He knew when the wind was blowing what messages it would carry from one country to another.He read the clouds and he realized that the clouds had a design. He knew the meaning of that design.

He heard the birds. He understood the language of the birds; the chirping of the birds carried messages. And then he heard there was a man who also knew how to read another person’s mind. I want to see him, said the emperor. They found him. They brought him to the emperor.Is it true that you know how to read the clouds? Yes, Majesty. Is it true you know the language of the birds? Yes, Majesty. What about the wind? Yes, I know.Okay, says the emperor. I have in my hands behind my back a bird. Tell me, is it alive or not?

And the wise man was so afraid that whatever he would say would be a tragedy, that if he were to say that the bird is alive,the emperor, in spite, would kill it. So he looked at the emperor for a longtime, smiled, and said, Majesty, the answer is in your hands. It’s always in our hands.

The outcome of employment is in our hands. It is easy to blame government, big companies, or our last employer for the lack of hiring.

What are 5 things that are in each of our hands that we control?

1. Give 100% effort. Putting 100% effort in using the tools at our disposal. Use 8 hours a day to scan job boards, network with new people, contact the people we know, research companies where we want to work, and call for informational interviews will bring us closer to employment.

2. Work while we are waiting for work. Temporary work is an option for everyone, and everybody to earn money while waiting for the job we want.

3. Volunteer. These are opportunities that can help us keep our skills up and possible learn new skills. If you have attended a computer class at the library, an opportunity to use new learned skills is in your hands.

4. Help others with their job search. The job search is not about you completely. It helps to pass on what you know, even if it is not reciprocated, but underestimate what you can learn in the process.

5. Aid us while re-tooling. There are books on self-improvement, resume and cover letter writing, networking, and grammar that are useful to increase employment value.

The answer is in our hands with ways to make a difference today. We decide the outcome with what we do with our hands.